Topaz Gigapixel AI Summary

If you need to enlarge a cropped photo, one taken with a low megapixel camera, or simply to be able to print bigger, Topaz Gigapixel AI offers the simplest, most effective way to achieve high quality results. Processing speeds are relatively slow, but depends on your computer.

What is Topaz Gigapixel AI?

Gigapixel AI is a downloadable image editor which uses artificial intelligence to enlarge images by up to 600% without any noticeable loss in quality.

It offers batch processing and proprietary photo enhancement technologies to ensure a simple, efficient and powerful means to increase the original size of a photo by up to 6x.

With the v4.5 update, it also features the ability to specify processing settings per photo in the batch – a big time saver when working with multiple files.

Gigapixel AI also features automatic face recognition, allowing you to enlarge portraits and group photos while preserving details and sharpness.

Previously, enlarging images without introducing artifacts and pixellation was impossible.

Adobe Photoshop provides a solution with their ‘Preserve Details 2.0’ tool, and so do a handful of other alternative editing software and online tools… but none come close to Gigapixel AI.

Topaz Labs develop a whole range of photo editing software – you can purchase any product separately, or you can buy the Utility bundle which includes various powerful image editing software: Denoise AI, Sharpen AI, JPEGtoRAW AI and Gigapixel AI.

The Bundle is frequently on discount – you can check using the link below:

NVIDIA: Minimum requirement of 2GB of dedicated VRAM (GT 740 or greater); A recommended requirement of 4GB of dedicated VRAM (GTX 970 or greater); An optimal requirement of 8GB of dedicated VRAM (GTX 1080 or greater)

Interface

The Gigapixel AI interface is incredibly simple and intuitive to work with.

The process involved in accessing the Topaz Labs site to register for and download Gigapixel AI is very simple and quick – as too is the installation process of the editing software.

The interface is user friendly and simple to understand. It only took a few minutes for me to follow a set of logical steps and get to understand how Gigapixel AI operates.

When you first launch the software, it will have a folder icon and the word Open. Clicking on this opens your upload folder, where you can choose your single or multiple images.

With your image loaded and the preview ready, you’ll have something that resembles the screenshot above. On the left is your original image and on the right is the preview of your edited image.

The Gigapixel AI interface shows file details at the top left of your Input (i.e. your original photo), and the Output (i.e. the edited photo), as well as where the file will save.

The right-hand panel has all of your control measures, beginning with the Processing menu where you can first resize the image.

You can resize by scale, width or height depending on your own editing style. I chose to use the scale, since this is a simpler measure.

Then you can choose the magnification with some preset options, and also the ability to enter a custom level between 0.2 up to 6.0 times the scale.

Below this is the settings selector where you can choose between Auto and Manual.

Under the manual option, you can finely control noise reduction and blur reduction. Finally, you can choose whether or not to use ‘Face Refinement’ or not.

Face Refinement is a powerful update to Gigapixel AI which provides more face detail when enlarging photos. Normally, it’s very difficult to upscale small faces in images, without them getting pixelated or unrecognizable.

The tool can detect very small faces (16 x 16px up to 64 to 64px), and apply targeted upscaling via machine learning – there’s a hover-over example on the sales page here that you can try for yourself.

Continuing down the panel you come across the Output menu, where you select your file destination and the file prefix and suffix.

The final menu is for File Format, which gives you options to select the file type, select image quality and choose to keep colour preferences or not.

Once you have completed this you can select start and GigapixelAI will commence processing your single image, or one image at a time if there are multiple images.

While this occurs, there is a percentage count to show you the progress of the process.

It really is simple to upscale your old images to get greater clarity, or provide more resolution.

Performance

Left image is much clearer after the use of Gigapixel AI when compared to the grainy image on the right.

I found the overall performance of Topaz Gigapixel AI to be very smooth, with no stalling or freezing during the editing process.

When you first open an image for upload, the software will develop a preview of your image. Generating a preview took as little as 5 seconds, but be aware that every change that you make to settings the preview has to be re-processed.

Processing a single JPEG image took a little over 1 minute. Processing a batch of 3 images took exactly three times as long as the software deals with one image at a time.

In this world of instant-gratification that we live in, having to wait more than a few seconds for anything can quickly become tedious for some.

If I had one negative to say about Gigapixel AI and had to nitpick, it’s that I do wish it were a little faster. However, considering the end result and what the tool can actually achieve, it’s well worth the wait :-)

Tests

For testing purposes, the images were converted in Lightroom to JPEGs with 1600 pixels on the long edge and a resolution of 72 pixels.

Considering my computer set up is somewhere between the minimum and recommended level of settings, I had absolutely no issues or lag in opening or editing images.

It’s really a brilliantly simple piece of software, which anyone could master and use to achieve excellent results.

All before and after images can be downloaded here if you want to take a closer look.

Image Enlargement Test #1 – Landscape

Before: 1600 x 1067px | A little softness on the cliff edges due to slower shutter speed and ocean spray.

After: 3200 × 2134px | Using Gigapixel AI I was able to choose to double the scale of the original image and gain greater definition.

When I captured this image, I was using a slower shutter speed to capture a little of the drama with the ocean swirling.

Also, there was some ocean spray in the air, which resulted in some of the sharper edges of the cliff to be a little soft.

Once processed through Gigapixel AI, I was able to retain that creamy ocean swirl while gaining greater sharpness on the cliff edges. Very impressive!

Image Enlargement Test #2 – Portrait

Before: 1600 x 1067px | The protester’s facial details are not quite as clear as they could be.

After: 6400×4268 | Gigapixel AI has allowed me to gain greater clarity of facial features while preserving a natural look.

In this image, the faces of the two protestors were ever so slightly out of focus and a little soft. Also, the young man’s heavy brow resulted in more shadow across his eyes.

By running the image through Gigapixel AI, I was able to gain greater detail of the faces and get some more contrast definition too.

With this image, I actually chose to use a 4 times scale to gain even more detail, and the results are very impressive again.

Image Enlargement Test #3 – Group

Before: 1600 x 1067px | The bride and her father are slightly out of focus compared to the bridesmaid.

After: 3200 × 2134px | Using Gigapixel AI I was able to increase the level of detail in all the faces.

In this wedding image, the bride and her father are slightly less in focus than the bridesmaid.

With the Gigapixel AI software, I was able to add just enough sharpening to increase the level of detail and resolution in each face.

It’s incredible how previously out-of-focus elements can be brought back into sharp focus, as you can see with the bride and father’s faces in the images above.

Topaz Gigapixel AI vs Other Image Enlargement Software

It’s good to see that hundreds of other users are having success with Gigapixel AI too – see here for more reviews.

There are several popular image editors available in 2020 which allow you to enlarge your images.

These include Adobe Photoshop, ON1 Photo RAW and Affinity Photo, with each one using its own proprietary algorithms to increase the size of an image.

It’s one of those instances where you don’t know how good something is until you try it – even if you’re satisfied with how your current editing software handles enlargements, I strongly recommend you try experiment a little.

Popular image editors like Photoshop have a whole suite of powerful retouching tools. However, Topaz decided to take one single operation, and absolutely excel at it. This makes its standalone apps like Gigapixel AI simply untouchable.

My advice to you is to download Gigapixel AI here and use it to enlarge any of your old RAW or JPEG images.

If you own another image editor, run a few tests to see which one gives you the best results – Topaz offers a no-quibbles 30-day money back guarantee, so you’ve got nothing to lose if you’re not convinced you made the right decision.

Who is Topaz Gigapixel AI for?

Being able to upscale images losslessly is a real eye-opener.

I’ve identified a few usage cases for the Gigapixel AI software, for professional photographers, amateurs, and even non-photographers.

Enlarge a photo for a piece of large wall canvas without losing quality

Enlarge a photo for printing in a double-page album spread (wedding photographers often need this)

Enlarge images taken on old digital cameras with smaller sensors

‘Zoom in’ further to macro photos

Enlarge cropped photos to the original image’s dimensions

Enlarge details in lower mega pixel drone shots

There are obviously many other scenarios which would benefit from the Gigapixel app, but number one for most people is the ability to resize photos for print, while maintaining good image quality.

If you’ve ever wondered how big you can print a photo from your camera, this should give you some idea:

Megapixels : Maximum Print Size (@ 300ppi)

8MP: 10.88″ x 8.16″

10MP: 12.91″ x 8.64″

12MP: 14.30″ x 9.34″

16MP: 16.40″ x 10.88″

35mm film (scanned): 17.93″ x 12.06″

You can reduce the print quality (ppi = pixels per inch) to 200 ppi to get a larger final image, but this isn’t usually desirable if you want to maintain sharpness and details.

Pricing + Discount

Use coupon code Shotkit to save 15%.

There’s no doubt that Gigapixel AI is an incredible bit of software that any photographer can benefit using.

For a one-off purchase of around $100 (see latest price here), you are getting an image enhancement tool that is capable of enlarging your images to a considerable scale. In the process, its AI technology removes unwanted noise and softness like never before.

Topaz Labs develop a whole range of photo editing software, with each tool available separately for around the same price.

My recommendation is to consider getting the Utility Bundle, which includes Gigapixel AI, plus JPEGtoRAW AI, Denoise AI and Sharpen AI – all highly useful apps for all level of photographer.

As mentioned above, Topaz offers a handy 30 day, no-questions-asked refund policy, meaning that if for whatever reason you’re unsatisfied with your single-app or bundle purchase, you can get all your money back.

When you consider what you can achieve with Gigapixel AI, whether you purchase it as a standalone app or within the bundle, both options are excellent value for money.

Limited Time Discount

Save 15% off Gigapixel AI and any of the Topaz Labs products by clicking the link below and using the coupon code: shotkit

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Gigapixel AI?

It’s a photo retouching tool that allows you to enlarge images up to 600% while preserving image detail. Download it as a standalone tool, or as a plugin for Photoshop, Lightroom Classic or Topaz Studio.

What is Topaz Labs?

It’s a photo editing software company that makes standalone applications and plugins.

Is Topaz Gigapixel AI a plugin?

It’s both a plugin for Photoshop, Lightroom Classic and Topaz Studios, and also a standalone application. It can be downloaded on its own or part of the Utility Bundle.

How do I update Topaz Gigapixel AI?

Manually uninstall the current version from your computer and reinstall the latest version using the appropriate installer, available on the Topaz Labs website.

Final Words

Some of the big players in photo imaging software lay claim to having a one-stop solution to all your editing needs.

Topaz Labs has demonstrated they can concentrate on simpler solutions to many of the editing challenges faced by photographers.

Topaz Gigapixel AI is a perfect of example of a software solution which focuses intently on a single issue with a fantastic solution.

You will end up with sharper images in your collection, and be able top print them out much bigger than was previously possible.

All your ‘almost-sharp-but-not-sharp-enough’ images can be fixed, enlarged and ready for print, even when they include small faces.

If you’ve ever wanted to print a big piece of wall art, or simply tried to do a double-page spread in an album but not had enough resolution in your photo, Gigapixel AI will allow you to do the previously impossible.

Effortless, accurate and fast image enlargements is precisely what this software has been designed to do. Using the power of AI, Topaz Gigapixel AI is affordable and intuitive.

By using this software you will feel far more interested in printing and editing your images – an incredibly rewarding outcome for a photographer.

Being able to print our photos large and have them on display is an incredible experience, and this software makes it possible in a simple, enjoyable and elegant way.

Highly Recommended

Topaz Gigapixel AIInvaluable tool to enlarge images by up to 600% without any noticeable loss in quality.